“This is Ted,” Ellen said, gesturing toward her husband.
Ted stood and gave Rory a bone crusher of a handshake, yet he was a soft-looking man, with friendly eyes and a spare tire around his middle.
“Honored to meet you,” Ted said.
“I’m an old Rams fan.”
“Me, too.” Rory smiled.
“Have a seat, Zack,” Daria invited, and with a sullen shrug, Zack sat down next to Shelly. Rory held out the chair next to Ted for Grace, then took his own seat between Grace and his son.
“Where’s Chloe?” he asked.
“At a vespers service,” Daria said.
“At St. Esther’s,” Shelly added.
“Ah,” he said.
“What a lovely view from here,” Grace said.
“Surpassed only by the food,” Ted added, and although Rory didn’t look at Zack, he could imagine him rolling his eyes at the banality of the conversation. He knew Zack would far rather be with Kara tonight than at this table filled with adults.
Grace, on the other hand, had accepted the invitation with delight.
She wanted to meet the Catos, she’d said, and she’d love to see Shelly again. Rory was feeling some disappointment in Grace, though, and it had taken him several days to recognize the reason for his subtle dismay:
Grace had shown little interest in Zack. She’d asked the boy virtually no questions, and did not even talk to Rory about him. Rory had brought up the subject several times, trying to get Grace’s input on the relationship problems he and Rory were having, but Grace barely seemed to listen as he spoke. Her indifference came as a surprise and a letdown.
Especially after the interest she’d shown in Shelly. He’d expected too much of her, he knew. She had her own trials and tribulations to grapple with.
“Hey, Dar!” A good-looking man walked by their table on the way to his own, stopping to bend low and kiss Daria’s cheek.
“Hi, Mike, how are you doing?” Daria asked.
“Just great,” he said, giving her bare shoulders a squeeze.
“We miss you.”
“I miss you guys, too,” Daria said.
Mike winked at Shelly, nodded to the rest of the table, then walked across the deck where he joined a woman and another couple.
“One of your pals?” Rory teased Daria.
She wrinkled her nose at him.
“Exactly,” she said.
“Fellow EMT.”
They ordered their dinners. At first Zack said he wanted nothing to eat, but Shelly insisted he try the crab cakes.
“They’re the best in the universe,” she said, and Zack ordered them, probably to stop Shelly from bugging him.
Conversation was superficial but swift. Ted wanted to talk about fishing and football, Ellen, about the shopping spree she had planned for the following day. Grace suggested shops Ellen might try farther south. Rory and Daria joined in the chatter wherever they could, but Rory was keenly aware of Zack’s silence. He wished there was some way he could bring his son into the conversation without it looking obvious and contrived, thereby earning Zack’s wrath.
Shelly suddenly whispered something to Zack, and Rory realized that he was not the only person at this table aware of the boy’s shyness amidst the adults. She whispered again, and a smile crossed Zack’s lips. He
whispered something back to her, and she giggled. The adult con n versation still surged across the table, but Rory listened in on Shelly and Zack to the best of his ability.
“Which one?” Shelly asked Zack.
“Kara,” Zack said.
“She is so cute,” Shelly said.
“Yeah,” Zack said.
“Did you have a girlfriend in California?” Shelly asked.
Rory leaned a little closer to his son, curious to hear his answer.
“A couple,” Zack said. He looked at Rory, letting him know he was on to his snooping, then turned his back on his father and continued talking with Shelly in private. There were more giggles and, on Zack’s part, some outright laughter. Rory smiled to himself, grateful to Shelly. She knew exactly what she was doing, he thought. She’d seen Zack’s discomfort and made the effort to bring him out of his shell.
Their food was served, and halfway through the meal, Shelly asked Zack, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Have you gone to watch the hang gliders yet?”
“Yeah,” Zack said, “and my dad and I are going to take a hang-gliding lesson soon.” He glanced at Rory.
“Right?” he asked.
“Right,” Rory said, pleased to have a chance to draw Shelly and Zack’s private chat into the conversation of the adults.
“We watched one of the classes. It didn’t look that dangerous.”
“Well,” Ellen said to Rory, “I hope your will is up-to- date.”
“Oh,” Shelly said, “I think it would be wonderful. I always wanted to do it, but I was afraid to, because I might have a seizure. But Father Sean hang-glides all the time.”
“Father Sean?” Zack asked.
“Is that a priest?”
“Yup,” Shelly said. “A priest who hang-glides?” Zack asked in amazement.
“I hope Father Macy’s piloting skills are better than his preaching skills,” Ellen said.
The insult seemed to go over Shelly’s head.
“He’s been gliding ever since I can remember,” she said.
“And he even won a contest a few years ago. Right, Daria?” She looked at her sister for confirmation.
“That’s right,” Daria said.
“He won the summer competition. It’s held every year. The next one’s in a few weeks, and I bet he’ll be in it again.”
“If it wasn’t for Father Sean,” Shelly said, “I wouldn’t be sitting here with you all today.”
Ellen laughed.
“No,” she said.
“You’d probably be sitting with a nice, normal family somewhere. Maybe even a wealthy family. Look what you missed out on.”
“Ellen,” Ted said in a voice too small for his size.
“Shelly has a perfectly fine family.”
“Why wouldn’t you be sitting here?” Zack asked Shelly. “What did Father Sean or Macy or whoever he is have to do with it?”
“Sean Macy—the priest—helped my parents adopt Shelly when she was an infant,” Daria explained.
“So we all have a special place in our hearts for him.” “Dad said Daria found you on the beach when you were a baby,” Zack said to Shelly.
“Yes, but I don’t remember it.”
Rory’s mind drifted for a moment. Maybe he should have a talk with Sean Macy, since he’d been involved in Shelly’s adoption. He wouldn’t know anything about Shelly’s parentage, of course, but still, it would be interesting to hear his memories of that time. And the priest certainly sounded human and approachable.
Grace reached for her water glass, and Rory noticed that her fingers were trembling.
He leaned close to her, whispering, “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” she whispered back, then suddenly looked across the table at Shelly.
“Do you see what I have on?” she asked, touching her fingers to her throat, and Rory leaned forward to see.
Grace was wearing a shell necklace, probably one of Shelly’s, and he was surprised. She had said nothing to him about it.
“I made that,” Shelly said.
“Yes, I bought it at the Shell Seeker, that little store in South Nag’s Head,” Grace said.
“How did you ever make it? It’s so delicate.”
“Oh, it’s easy, once you know how,” Shelly said.
“It looks very nice on you.” She turned suddenly to Zack. “Have you gone crabbing yet?
Your father and Daria went crabbing the other day. They said they used to go all the time when they were kids. “
Rory was certain Shelly hadn’t meant to be rude, but she’d practically cut Grace off mid-sentence. He felt Grace grow quiet at his side. He reached for her hand beneath the table, and was relieved when she allowed him to take it. Their relationship had been platonic so far.
They had seen each other several times, but only during daytime hours, which didn’t lend themselves to any sort of physical intimacy. They’d spoken on the phone, but Grace was always straightforward, simply wanting to make plans rather than get into prolonged conversations.
And so far, she had vetoed the idea of him coming down to Rodanthe to see her, saying she preferred coming up to Kill Devil Hills. Grace always seemed to keep her distance from him, physically and emotionally. He’d been ready for rejection when he took her hand and was pleased she hadn’t balked.
The waitress cleared away their dishes, then took their dessert orders. Grace ordered nothing.
“God, Daria could sure beat you at swimming, couldn’t she?” Ellen was speaking to Rory, and he turned his attention to her.
“I let her win,” he said simply.
Daria smiled at him.
“We’ll have to have a rematch,” she said.
“We’ll see,” he said. He’d worked out with her at the athletic club once this past week and feared she could probably still beat him.
“Do you remember that time,” Ellen continued, “when Daria stuffed toilet paper in her bathingsuit top and it got wet and started coming out in the water?”
Zack laughed at that, and Daria groaned.
“I tried to forget that, Ellen,” she said.
“I don’t remember it at all,” Rory said.
“That’s because you were ignoring me by then,” Daria said.
He did remember the time Chloe lost her entire bathingsuit top when she was body surfing though. He was about to mention that, but then wondered if it was in poor taste to tell such a story about a nun.
“Daria said you’ve got some crazy notion that you can uncover the secrets to Shelly’s past,” Ellen said.
“Well, I’m trying to, anyway,” he said.
“As a matter of fact, I met with the police detective who covered Shelly’s case this afternoon.”
He caught Daria’s dark look, and knew he probably shouldn’t talk about this with her present. She still disapproved, but it was hard for him to keep quiet about the topic when it was so much on his mind, and Ellen had given him the invitation to speak. “What did he say?” Grace asked. “What were the police able to find out back then?”
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